Yesterday, we listed the upcoming MMORPG from the folks over at Masthead Studios, Earthrise. Today, the company has provided us with an internal FAQ about the game as well as a list of things that players will find in the game.

What players can expect to find in Earthrise:

• A unique post-apocalyptic setting where the cloned remnants of mankind battle to survive and rebuild. Yet while humanity may have evolved, human nature remains as treacherous as ever…
• Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.
• Fast-paced action combat featuring dynamic targeting, customizable power armor, huge mechanized exoskeletons, and hundreds of high-tech weapons.
• Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.
• Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.
• Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.
• An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.
• Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

Read it all here.

I definately like the sound of this one.  Especially as I hate artificial class restrictions and like post apocalyptic settings.

It's shaping up nicely so far.  I'll be checking in with this game from time to time for sure.

Can they 'borrow' any more ideas from eve ?

Seriously, the crafting is the same

Off line skilling

in fact everything to do with crafting or skilling looks like its been lifted straight from eve.  I hate the offline skilling model - straight away they are alienating a large chunk of players who will never be able to catchup!

Originally posted by slide_k9

Can they 'borrow' any more ideas from eve ?

Seriously, the crafting is the same

Off line skilling

in fact everything to do with crafting or skilling looks like its been lifted straight from eve.  I hate the offline skilling model - straight away they are alienating a large chunk of players who will never be able to catchup!

You sir are an idiot,now stop consuming oxygen,thank you.

Sure, sounds cool, and I've been DYING for a good Sci-Fi based MMO.  However, call me jaded at the MMO market , but here's what I feel about these grand announcements so early in development...

First - 'Launching in 2009' means Q2 of 2010 at the earliest.

Second - LOTS of games have very innovative and impressive features lists on paper, but how many of them actually make it into the launch product?  Vangaurd anyone?  LOTRO/MEO?  By the time this game makes it to market, I'm betting it will mimic whatever is making the most money (WOW, LOTRO, 'Sci-Fi Blizzard MMO', whatever...) and all the original lofty and creative ideas will have been weeded out. 

I WANT to find that totally awesome Sci-Fi based MMO, I've literally played them ALL, and none of them (aside form the first 3 or 4 months of SWG - those were the goold old days....) have ever held my interest or struck me as anything more than elves and dwarves with blasters...

PVP instance or mainframe?If it's instanced ,then how would those players enjoy the so called PVP sculpts the world?There in PVP'ing in an instance there not playing the mainframe ,simple as that.IDK maybe they got it as mainframe PVP ,at least that's one checkmark in there favour.

crafting sounds too good to be true.They make it sound like you can craft your own designs but in reality,it has to be a design already in the game otherwise,the program wouldn't have a clue what you are doing.It sounds more like the normal crafting whereby you can add effects to your gear[add-ons]is a way to describe it.No surprise any good marketing will word there ideas so they sound like the player is creating his own unique world,that's an attraction many players will flock to.

The biggest NO-NO i read was player advancement without playing ..lol.I don't even want to get into any flame wars or any debate over this as it is a total joke.Even if i get a response to it i won't respond back,because IMO there is no room for discussion on that idea.

The market is player run?WOW i can here the stampede of RMT activity already.The ONLY way to make a game economy work decently is to allow proper game drops ,so players DON'T have to rely on the market or facing off against RMT.Let me see i got a nice drop i wanna sell,oh wait! RMT got the same item they farmed 24/7 up 10x for pennies more than what i could sell to a NPC,why bother?

IMO this sounds like a game that is trying to cover several ideas from other games like WOW/RF online and EVE.RMT activity will run rampant ,you can logon back on 3 mnths later to find you got an elite player lmao,brutal design.Maybe these guys are related to the designers of ARCHLORD? lol.The skilltree sounds like they are trying to copy EVE,again a weak setup IMO.You can have thousands of skills,but if there all superficial and take not interaction other than placing a checkmark in the appro box ,then it's meaningless.

I see this game as a failure.

Originally posted by airstrike

Originally posted by slide_k9

Can they 'borrow' any more ideas from eve ?

Seriously, the crafting is the same

Off line skilling

in fact everything to do with crafting or skilling looks like its been lifted straight from eve.  I hate the offline skilling model - straight away they are alienating a large chunk of players who will never be able to catchup!

You sir are an idiot,now stop consuming oxygen,thank you.

Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.

Now where have I seen this before....?
 
    * Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.

It's EVE's pvp model right here, inclusing priates.

    * Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.

Just like EVE's 0.0 player owned territory.

    * Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.

EVEs Skill system right here.

    * An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.

Does EVE have this feature word for word?  um yes.

    * Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

Again - the research, the manufacturing, the blueprints and raw resources - where have I seen this before?  Oh yes, EVE

----------------------------------------

So basically they are 'borrowing' a tried and tested game model and making it ground based instead of space based.  A+ for originality.  Personally I think a certian company should be suing for breaching IP.

And yes, a lot of new players are detered from starting EVE as they know they can never hold to catch up the existing players, hence the offline skilling system flaw - I hope this is addressed (limiting the skillpoints?)

Slide, I think the point that air was trolling to make was that all of these features have been found in MMOs that long predate EVE.

You claiming that EarthRise is borrowing things from EVE puts you right in the same camp as people who claim that WAR is borrowing from WoW.

Originally posted by streea

Slide, I think the point that air was trolling to make was that all of these features have been found in MMOs that long predate EVE.

You claiming that EarthRise is borrowing things from EVE puts you right in the same camp as people who claim that WAR is borrowing from WoW.

QFT. The only thing on the list that I can say with 90% confidence, that earthrise has borrowed from eve is offline skilling (which is retarded btw, game breaker for me personally, even if i have the chance to get in at the beginning, making me more powerful than someone who starts late and can't catch up).

Earthrise isn't EVE...The gameplay isn't based around ships.

It's the skillbased system that allows realtime skilling that is such a bad idea unless it is limited somehow.  I mean if I was subscribing to the game and wanted say a 6 month break to play another game, I would be 6 months behind others who stay subbed, forcing me to not take that break to stay at the top.

I don't like being forced to sub to a game so would never play another game using this model, personally.

As far as the ideas and previous mmo's, c'mon having both offline skilling AND blueprints / labs, manufacturing, raw materials etc is the same crafting model - hell they at least could of changed the semantics!

It seems to be a bit of a mmo cancer, find a game and copy it - updating bit's, but I guess this is the way mmo's are going to evolve?  just like the WoW WAR example you stated.

Add something original to the game, terraforming - allow owned zones to be mined anywhere - make walls / fortresses / mazes, build towers into the skys and caves in the hillsides and I'd be hooked for sure, player made places to explore and invade - a real mmo build by players.  Hell everything including mechs in the game has been done - at least pop something origianal in somewhere and evolve!

For those who think that skill advancement will be like Eve Online, you're wrong. Here is a quote from recent interview with the CEO of Masthead Studios in Gaming Shogun (link)

GS: Earthrise is said to feature a way to continue advancing your character even while the player is not in-game. I can only think of EVE Online that offers a similar feature. How will this offline progression work in Earthrise?

AA: The offline progression is different than the one in EVE online. All combat and crafting skills will advance online. While offline, the players will have the opportunity to gather income and advance in a more social aspect of the game.

Originally posted by Wizardry

PVP instance or mainframe?If it's instanced ,then how would those players enjoy the so called PVP sculpts the world?There in PVP'ing in an instance there not playing the mainframe ,simple as that.IDK maybe they got it as mainframe PVP ,at least that's one checkmark in there favour.

crafting sounds too good to be true.They make it sound like you can craft your own designs but in reality,it has to be a design already in the game otherwise,the program wouldn't have a clue what you are doing.It sounds more like the normal crafting whereby you can add effects to your gear[add-ons]is a way to describe it.No surprise any good marketing will word there ideas so they sound like the player is creating his own unique world,that's an attraction many players will flock to.

The biggest NO-NO i read was player advancement without playing ..lol.I don't even want to get into any flame wars or any debate over this as it is a total joke.Even if i get a response to it i won't respond back,because IMO there is no room for discussion on that idea.

The market is player run?WOW i can here the stampede of RMT activity already.The ONLY way to make a game economy work decently is to allow proper game drops ,so players DON'T have to rely on the market or facing off against RMT.Let me see i got a nice drop i wanna sell,oh wait! RMT got the same item they farmed 24/7 up 10x for pennies more than what i could sell to a NPC,why bother?

IMO this sounds like a game that is trying to cover several ideas from other games like WOW/RF online and EVE.RMT activity will run rampant ,you can logon back on 3 mnths later to find you got an elite player lmao,brutal design.Maybe these guys are related to the designers of ARCHLORD? lol.The skilltree sounds like they are trying to copy EVE,again a weak setup IMO.You can have thousands of skills,but if there all superficial and take not interaction other than placing a checkmark in the appro box ,then it's meaningless.

I see this game as a failure.

Hate to burst your bubble, but no matter what type of market economy this game has, it will still feel the affects of RMT. I've yet to see one game that does not have RMT issues. And the whole, this game will just borrow from this game is seriously getting old. If people out there seriously think there is some secret game out there thats going to take RPG's to a whole new level, they are so wrong. RPG's will always have the same elements. Its how the game decides to use these elements, in which it will make it unique. I've yet to play any RPG out there that doesnt play like the previous. The settings dont make it any different in gameplay, only visually. Ive played rpg's that vary from Sci-fi to fantasy, to just plain crap. Same ole nothing new. The one thing that doesnt make me mad is that ive learned that it will always be like this. Therefore im never dissapointed. Some people need to take the same path.

Originally posted by slide_k9

 

Originally posted by airstrike

Originally posted by slide_k9

Can they 'borrow' any more ideas from eve ?

Seriously, the crafting is the same

Off line skilling

in fact everything to do with crafting or skilling looks like its been lifted straight from eve.  I hate the offline skilling model - straight away they are alienating a large chunk of players who will never be able to catchup!

You sir are an idiot,now stop consuming oxygen,thank you.

Why is that AirStrike?  Did I not make a valid point?  Ok let's have a look at the 'features' Earthrise has in common with Eve shall we:

 

Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.

Now where have I seen this before....?
 
    * Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.

It's EVE's pvp model right here, inclusing priates.

    * Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.

Just like EVE's 0.0 player owned territory.

    * Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.

EVEs Skill system right here.

    * An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.

Does EVE have this feature word for word?  um yes.

    * Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

Again - the research, the manufacturing, the blueprints and raw resources - where have I seen this before?  Oh yes, EVE

----------------------------------------

So basically they are 'borrowing' a tried and tested game model and making it ground based instead of space based.  A+ for originality.  Personally I think a certian company should be suing for breaching IP.

And yes, a lot of new players are detered from starting EVE as they know they can never hold to catch up the existing players, hence the offline skilling system flaw - I hope this is addressed (limiting the skillpoints?)

Yeah and EvE invented all those features. I hate fanboys like you.

Originally posted by raynerape

For those who think that skill advancement will be like Eve Online, you're wrong. Here is a quote from recent interview with the CEO of Masthead Studios in Gaming Shogun (link)

 

GS: Earthrise is said to feature a way to continue advancing your character even while the player is not in-game. I can only think of EVE Online that offers a similar feature. How will this offline progression work in Earthrise?

AA: The offline progression is different than the one in EVE online. All combat and crafting skills will advance online. While offline, the players will have the opportunity to gather income and advance in a more social aspect of the game.

Thanks - what a relief. Off-line skill advancement is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

Really looking forward to this game thank you mmorpg.com much love. keep up the good work!

Player based market driven economy system is inherently incompatible and mutually exclusive with a "make your own rules or let anarchy reign" pvp territory conquest system.  nope, nope, can't work, two different games, sorry.  Most of the description was just PR-speak.

Originally posted by slide_k9

 

Originally posted by airstrike

Originally posted by slide_k9

Can they 'borrow' any more ideas from eve ?

Seriously, the crafting is the same

Off line skilling

in fact everything to do with crafting or skilling looks like its been lifted straight from eve.  I hate the offline skilling model - straight away they are alienating a large chunk of players who will never be able to catchup!

You sir are an idiot,now stop consuming oxygen,thank you.

Why is that AirStrike?  Did I not make a valid point?  Ok let's have a look at the 'features' Earthrise has in common with Eve shall we:

 

Highly customizable characters with over 100 different skills, abilities, and tactics. No artificial "class" restrictions get in the way of making the character you want.

Now where have I seen this before....?
 
    * Sophisticated Player versus Player (PvP) mechanics that let you fight for the established order, join the revolutionary underground, or carve your own bloody path as an independent criminal.

It's EVE's pvp model right here, inclusing priates.

    * Territorial conquest and defense that matters. In your domain, you create your own rules – or let anarchy reign.

Just like EVE's 0.0 player owned territory.

    * Character progression that keeps you advancing in your career even when you’re not logged in.

EVEs Skill system right here.

    * An advanced market-based economy with in-game supply and demand based on player activities.

Does EVE have this feature word for word?  um yes.

    * Deep crafting mechanics that let you design and manufacture unique items from customizable blueprints and raw resources.

Again - the research, the manufacturing, the blueprints and raw resources - where have I seen this before?  Oh yes, EVE

----------------------------------------

So basically they are 'borrowing' a tried and tested game model and making it ground based instead of space based.  A+ for originality.  Personally I think a certian company should be suing for breaching IP.

And yes, a lot of new players are detered from starting EVE as they know they can never hold to catch up the existing players, hence the offline skilling system flaw - I hope this is addressed (limiting the skillpoints?)

if you played just eve or lately only eve that doesnt mean they got all the ideas from eve...look a bit around

I don't have the time or serious inclination to search previous posts but:

Do the same people who complain about real-time, offline skilling also argue that games should not be noob/casual-friendly?  That it is the time spent that is most important ala "of coarse you can't do what I'm doing, you haven't played for 6 months".

It just seems ironic to me that some people argue that because they have more time to play, they must automatically be better [have better characters/items/what have you] than people who have less time to play.  This would just seem to level the playing field.

EDIT:  Noticed in above post that this WILL NOT allow useful skills to progress, just "social skills".